Liberal billionaire helping fund media groups in Wisconsin

Conservative foundations have poured big bucks into new Wisconsin websites that do original opposition research supporting Republican candidates.

But it's not like deep-pocketed liberal institutions are sitting on their hands.

Foundations created and funded by billionaire philanthropist and noted liberal George Soros have sunk money into two new media projects in the state - the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and MapLight.

You may not have heard of either group, but you're probably familiar with their work.

The Wisconsin Center is a nonprofit founded by former Wisconsin State Journal reporter Andy Hall in 2009 that works with other media outlets and the University of Wisconsin-Madison to do investigative news projects. Its stories - written by professional and student journalists - focus on government and quality-of-life issues.

It had its biggest impact recently with its story on a physical altercation between Supreme Court Justices David Prosser and Ann Walsh Bradley.

Hall's group lists all of its funding sources on its website.

That shows one Soros institution, the Foundation to Promote Open Society, gave the Wisconsin Center $50,000 in 2009 and $100,000 in 2010. A related foundation, Open Society Institute, is underwriting a joint project between the center and MapLight to highlight the influence of money in Wisconsin politics.

In all, Hall said, some 30% of the center's funding has come from Soros-funded entities. Three dozen other organizations and individuals provide the rest of its budget.

The first to raise questions about the center's Soros funding issue was Christian Schneider, a senior fellow at the conservative Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, in a story for the National Review. Schneider's piece followed up on the center's article on the Prosser-Bradley altercation, suggesting the original article was skewed to give only Bradley's side of the story.

Bradley is liberal, and Prosser is a conservative.

"To date, Bradley has not filed any kind of charges against Prosser," Schneider wrote. "Instead, the story was leaked to the George Soros-funded Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, who used three anonymous sources to back up Bradley's story."

That tidbit was picked up by others, such as Commentary magazine and a number of right-wingblogs seeking to discredit the original story. Conservative blogger Kevin Binversie followed that up with a column showing Open Society also has given large sums to entities ranging from the liberal advocacy group Citizen Action of Wisconsin to local homeless shelters.

Hall said he is not surprised by the scrutiny.

To him, it is similar to the standard complaints that newspapers don't pursue certain stories because they might damage a particular advertiser.

The veteran scribe emphasized that the Open Society money came with no strings attached and is fully disclosed to the public. Soros' groups, he added, give to a number of other nonprofit investigative journalism enterprises, including ProPublica and the Center for Public Integrity.

Besides, he said he believes the criticism has limited appeal.

"Does that resonate with the public?" Hall asked. "I don't have any evidence that it does."

Likewise, MapLight defended its acceptance of grants from Open Society. The California-based nonprofit is working with Hall's center to set up a website that tracks campaign donations to Wisconsin lawmakers.

Daniel Newman, co-founder and executive director of MapLight, said his group has a proven track record of impartiality. Records show Open Society foundations gave $225,000 to MapLight in 2009, the most recent year for which data is available. MapLight had an overall budget of $729,067 that year.

"One need only look at our body of work to see that we give equal focus to the moneyed interests seeking to influence policy across the ideological spectrum," Newman wrote in a statement. "We do not take a position on candidates or legislation."

A third partner in the MapLight project, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, also has accepted Open Society funding in the past.

Open Society gave $75,000 to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign in 2009 for its Judicial Independence Project, which promotes increased public financing for judicial elections.

Mike McCabe, the head of the democracy campaign, was not available for comment last week.

But in an appearance before the state Supreme Court in late 2009, he defended the acceptance of grants from Soros' groups. He pointed out that groups ranging from the League of Women Voters and the Red Cross to UNICEF and Yale University have taken advantage of Soros' largess. McCabe said federal law prohibits these groups from advancing "the personal political agenda of Mr. George Soros."

Hall said it is easy for critics to track these donations because his group and many others report them publicly, even though they are not required to do so.

He said he wished some other major players - such as the libertarian Sam Adams Alliance, which helps fund several Wisconsin outfits - would do the same. Sam Adams has a policy of keeping the names of contributors secret.

Without transparency of funding sources, he noted, the public has no idea who is behind these nonprofits.

"It could be George Soros, for all I know," Hall said.

Political football

Green Bay Packers nose tackle Gilbert Brown may be the last of the two-way players.

Last week, the union group We are Wisconsin used automated phone calls from Brown to encourage residents to vote, according to a recording of the calls released by the group. We are Wisconsin backed the Democrats challenging six Republican senators in the recall elections.

This wasn't the first time Brown huddled with politicians. But last time, he was helping out the other team.

After the Packers won Super Bowl XXXI in 1997, Brown appeared with Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson during his State of the State speech before the Legislature to thunderous applause, "Title Towel" waving and pro-Packers chants.

Asked back then if he voted for Thompson or was a Republican, Brown tried to call a timeout.

"I don't know," said Brown, indicating he was rattled by the appearance, despite having just played in a Super Bowl in front of 125 million viewers. "Right now, I'm just shaking. It's a different kind of crowd than I'm used to."

Suspended judgment

State Rep. Donald Pridemore sometimes finds it easier to pass laws than to observe them.

Pridemore was fined $200.50 earlier this month for driving after his license was suspended. The Hartford Republican failed to show up for a court hearing, so a Chippewa County judge issued a default judgment finding Pridemore guilty of the violation.

Pridemore said his license was suspended when he failed to pay a citation for speeding in West Allis earlier this year. He said he tried to pay the ticket before his July trip to Chippewa County to visit relatives.

But he claimed he couldn't because no one would answer the phone at the West Allis municipal building after 2 p.m.

"It's just an unfortunate circumstance," he said. "I tried to fix it but wasn't able to."

Pridemore, 64, said the Chippewa County court date sneaked up on him, and he wasn't able to travel north Tuesday for the court hearing.

The lead-footed lawmaker was also ticketed twice for speeding in 2010, both times in Dodge County.